Some industry organizations which fought the passage of the Durbin amendment have moved quickly to applaud the prospect of its repeal.

U.S. Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Bill Owens (D-N.Y.) have announced they will file a bipartisan bill to repeal the Durbin amendment and remove its cap on debit card interchange for debit issuers of over $10 billion in assets.

One group that applauded the idea is the Electronic Payments Coalition.

“The Durbin amendment was forced into law despite repeated warnings from consumer advocates, regulators, and economists on the dire consequences that await consumers, said Trish Wexler, spokeswoman for the wide-ranging industry group that opposed the amendment.

“We now see this unfortunate situation for consumers playing out in the form of higher costs to own and use a debit card, with no promise from merchants that any of their savings will be passed on at the register,” Wexler said. “We commend Congressmen Chaffetz and Owens for their efforts to protect consumers, and we urge Congress to act quickly to get rid of this unprecedented and harmful amendment once and for all.”

NAFCU, an EPC member, also weighed in. “NAFCU thanks Reps. Chaffetz and Owens for leading the charge to correct the hasty and misguided Durbin amendment,” said Dan Berger, executive vice president for government affairs Dan Berger.

“In just the short period of time since the rule went into effect on Oct. 1, we have seen this amendment reach into the wallets of average Americans through increasing bank fees, just as we had feared,” he said.

This is a great first step in the process of correcting this draconian bill, and while we recognize it has a long way to go, NAFCU will work vigorously to have the Durbin amendment repealed. Our fragile economy cannot afford any more instability,” Berger said.